In a vehicle for transporting people, cargo and the like, such as an aircraft, ship and so forth, it is necessary to replenish the vehicle with an appropriate energy source such as fuel oil and electricity to ensure that excessive depletion of the energy source for the vehicle does not occur during travel. Accordingly, when planning a journey an operator of a vehicle is required to estimate an overall amount of an energy source that will be consumed, and determine timings for replenishing the energy source for the vehicle and an amount of the energy source to be replenished.
A variety of systems have been proposed for providing to an operator of a vehicle information for use in facilitating supply of an energy source to the vehicle. For example, in JP2003-262525A, a system for displaying, to a passenger of an electric automobile, information on a charging station at which a battery of the electric automobile is supplied with electricity is proposed. Using the system proposed in JP2003-262525A, an operator of an electric automobile is able to obtain from a map information on their current position relative to a closest charging station, along with a time required to reach the station, a time required for recharging the vehicle, and so forth. Such information is of help when an operator of an electric automobile decides at which charging station and at what timing the electric automobile should be charged.
In a voyage of a ship, a ship operation manager, ship navigator or the like of the ship determines what amount of fuel oil should be supplied to the ship at which port(s) of call to accomplish the voyage safely without the ship encountering a fuel shortage, on the basis of a variety of information such as price of the required type of fuel oil, which changes daily, at each of the ports, estimated value of remaining fuel, which changes in accordance with the voyage of the ship, and the estimated fuel consumption in the voyage planned after the fuel oil is supplied.
In the case of a ship, unlike a standard vehicle or the like, a sailing route is often largely determined in advance. Further, since locations at which a ship can be supplied with fuel oil (bunkering locations) are limited to specific ports, there are fewer bunkering locations than there are petrol stations or charging stations at which a road vehicle can be supplied with an energy source, for example. As such, since there is a limited choice of bunkering locations for supplying a ship with fuel oil, it is necessary for a ship operation manager, ship navigator or the like of a ship to have an accurate bunkering plan of what amount of fuel oil to supply to the ship at which port(s), at the time of planning the entire sailing route.
Conventionally, a ship operation manager, ship navigator or the like of a ship, when formulating a ship bunkering plan, refers to the sailing route of the target ship to ascertain fuel oil prices at bunkering locations at which the ship is scheduled to call or bunkering locations at which the ship is able to call from among fuel prices at a plurality of bunkering locations. This task is complex, and can easily lead to errors.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a means for reducing complex tasks when formulating a ship bunkering plan and to facilitate formulation of accurate bunkering plans, for a ship operation manager, ship navigator or the like of a ship.